I realize that not everyone owns each of the nextâ€¦errrâ€¦current generation consoles. This puts me in the fortunate position of being able to compare them and offer a unique insight into the pros and cons of each console. The pros are easy to write about, though, as all three consoles have a lot going for them, so I decided to go all negative and focus on five things that suck about each console. These are presented in no particular order, so itâ€™s not a â€œtop five sixâ€ list or anything like that.

Xbox 360

1. Red Ring of Death

Itâ€™s no secret that the Xbox 360 has suffered from serious reliability issues since it was released. Realistically, had the reliability issues been a safety issues (like, for example, Sonyâ€™s rechargable laptop batteries included in Dell laptops bursting into flames, or the original Xbox power cords shorting out and causing fires), the 360 wouldâ€™ve had to go through a major recall.

Microsoftâ€™s recent extension of the 360 warranty to three years for the red ring of death reeks of two things. First, a fear of class action lawsuits that they canâ€™t win. They knew if they ignored the issue, it would come back and bite them in the courts (and may still). Second, itâ€™s literally the least they could do. Had this really been a case of wanting to make sure the customer experience was fully covered, MS would have extended the warranty to three years, period. There wouldnâ€™t have been the caveat that it was for this issue particularly.

This comes from someone who has returned his first 360 for repair (due to the RROD) and who has never had another console fail on him (unless you count my original Atari 2600, where the coax cable coming out of it frayed and required opening it to replace â€“ not exactly a difficult repair).

2. Lack of rechargeable batteries

The PS3 has taken a beating publically because of its price point, but when you stop and compare the 360 and the PS3 feature for feature, the price points are actually very similar. Microsoft definitely â€œcheaped outâ€ on the little things, including the battery packs with the wireless controllers. Instead of including a rechargeable battery pack with the 360 controller, Microsoft opted to sell the battery packs separately, and as a result the controllers are30- 40% more expensive than they appear at first glance (because who wants to use a wireless controller without rechargeable batteries?).

3. Microsoft Points

Microsoft Points suck. There, I said it. Iâ€™m reminded of video arcades where you have to trade in your money for their tokens, and there are no refunds for unused tokens. Microsoftâ€™s insistence on using â€œpointsâ€ instead of real money adds a layer of confusion for consumers (how much does that downloadable content actually cost? Let me break out my calculator and figure out the Microsoft Points conversion rate), and Microsoft adds to the aggravation by only allowing you to buy points in quantities that donâ€™t add up to anywhere near the value of the content available for download. They donâ€™t even give you a significant discount for buying larger quantities of points at once. Even the sleaziest arcades do that.

4. Lack of built-in wireless networking

For a high-end console, the lack of integrated wireless networking is a black eye for the 360. Especially on the Elite. Even the Wii has built in wireless networking. Microsoft claims this is because the protocols for wireless networking keep changing. There are two problems with this argument. First, all the new protocols are backward compatible with the old ones. Second, a console with built-in networking is not prevented from using a future â€œbetterâ€ standard, if necessary, through a USB connection. Realistically, the exclusion of wireless networking is just another in a series of penny-pinching moves Microsoft made with the 360.

5. Lack of hard drive as standard

The original Xbox had a hard drive included as standard (and was the first console to do so), but its successor does not. WTF? Again, Microsoft has claimed this is about consumer choice. Please. The 360 is practically useless without a hard drive, and the proprietary memory cards are hideously overpriced. I highly doubt many 360s are in use out there without a hard drive, and Microsoft is just milking consumers by overcharging them for the hard drive peripherals after the fact.

6. The frickin’ huge power brick

The XBox 360 is a nice looking console, in fact I’d argue it’s the nicest of all three consoles in terms of aesthetics, except for one thing…that giant, ugly, 300lb power brick. If anything says “we didn’t have time to refine this design”, it’s that power brick.

Nintendo Wii

1. It’s Underpowered

The Nintendo Wii is about as powerful as a first-generation Xbox. It is essentially a souped-up GameCube, and it shows. The graphics are sub-par and a large number of the games suffer from slowdown issues and the like. Iâ€™m sure second and third generation Wii games will look better than first gen games, but thatâ€™ll be because more games will be designed for the Wii specifically instead of being ports of old PS2 games.

2. Expensive controllers

The Wii remote and nunchuk attachment look pretty reasonably priced on their own, but since a huge number of games require both, the cost of a controller is actually quite high. For a console designed to be more â€œaffordableâ€ than its competition, Nintendoâ€™s lack of a controller pack including both of these components together reeks of a cash grab.

3. Wii Points

Like Microsoft Points, Wii Points are a proprietary â€œmoneyâ€ system used to purchase downloadable contents. They suffer from all the same issues as Microsoft Points, but at least on the Xbox I can use a keyboard to enter my credit card information. Wii Points suck just that little bit harder than Microsoft Points.

4. Crappy ports

For a console that just launched less than a year ago, the Wii has a massive number of games. Sadly, the majority of them are crappy ports of GameCube titles, or games that were already in development for the GameCube that have had some gimmicky Wii controls bolted on. Itâ€™s no secret that the Wii remote was originally going to be an accessory for the GameCube, and that heritage is showing in the games. Hell, Mario Party 8 doesnâ€™t even support 16:9 televisions.

5. Lack of rechargeable batteries

Nintendoâ€™s Wii is priced a little bit high for technology as old as it is. Nintendo has obviously had great success at this price point, and theyâ€™re the only console maker currently turning a profit on hardware (PS2 notwithstanding, of course) so thereâ€™s no arguing that the price point is a success. Having said that, itâ€™d be nice if Nintendo offered a rechargeable battery pack for the Wii remote in the box. Instead, you have to purchase one separately, and Nintendo doesnâ€™t even offer a first-party battery pack.

6. The online experience

Sony has taken a lot of heat over the lackluster PSN experience versus Xbox Live, but let’s face facts…the Wii’s online experience is a joke. Even sharing your Miis with other people is a ridiculous exercise in convoluted processes. This doesn’t even take into account the fact that the system inexplicably loses its connection and delivers obscure error messages when trying to access the online store…what does that say for the possibility of online multiplayer games?

Playstation 3

1. Game library

The PS3 is a very powerful machine, but its Achilles â€™ heel at the moment is absolutely its game library. Itâ€™s obvious from the lack of games on the console that itâ€™s a beast to develop for, and developers are having a hard time wrapping their heads around it. When developers do get it, the results can be amazing (Heavenly Sword, MGS4), but sometimes quantity is as important as quality, and that can definitely be a factor when deciding which one of the consoles to buy.

2. Crappy ports

The PS3 shares very little in common with the other two consoles. Sony opted to go their own way, and the hardware is very different than the 360 or, obviously, the Wii. Because the 360 has been out for a year longer than the PS3, many of the first generation PS3 games were developed with the 360 as the lead platform, and then ported to the PS3. These ports generally look worse and play worse than their 360 counterparts and, to add insult to injury, come out quite a bit later than the 360 originals. What, exactly, are consumers spending that additional money for?

3. Expensive

The PS3 is expensive. Itâ€™s incredibly powerful, it represents very good value, and it does things none of the other consoles do, but none of that changes the fact that itâ€™s expensive. Even with the recent price drop (and it is a price drop, regardless of whether theyâ€™re clearing inventory on the 60GB model â€“ when theyâ€™re gone, the 80GB will drop to the 60GB price point, mark my words), the PS3 is the most expensive of all the consoles, and that is the biggest factor slowing down market penetration for this console.

4. No rumble

â€œRumble is a last gen featureâ€. What a load of crap. Now that Sony has settled their lawsuit with Immersion, hopefully a SixAxis controller with rumble will be on the market before Christmas. The lack of rumble on the controllers does have one benefit, thoughâ€¦the charge on the batteries in the controllers last forever.

5. No headset as â€œstandardâ€

All of the PS3 games that support online play support voice chat, but Sony opted not to include a headset with the PS3. This is incredibly annoying, especially when comparing the experience online on the PS3 to the stellar experience Microsoft offers with Live on the 360. I understand that Bluetooth headsets are more expensive than the cheap headsets Microsoft includes with the 360, but Sony shouldâ€™ve come up with a cheap solution that plugs into the controller (like the 360). Bluetooth headset support is nice if you happen to have a compatible headset around, but theyâ€™re far from ubiquitous enough to warrant being the only realistic option. And yes, I understand that USB headsets work, but most USB headsets have a 4 foot or shorter cord, and I like to sit at least eight feet away from my TV (and thus, my console). Besides, doesnâ€™t having a headset wired to a console defeat the purpose of wireless controllers in the first place?

6. No Rear USB Ports

I have an EyeToy, and I decided to plug it into my PS3. The camera sits on top of my entertainment unit, but the cable from it snakes across the front of my PS3, out the back and up to the top. Why? Because there’s no place on the back to plug in my EyeToy. Hell, I’d settle for three ports in the front and one in the back…how many USB devices am I really going to want up front?

There you go; five six things that suck about each of the major playersâ€™ consoles on the market right now. If youâ€™re shopping for one of the consoles, no matter which you buy, these are the things that will bug you.

120 Responses to “Five (Nope, Make That Six) Things That Suck About Each of the Next-Gen (current?) Consoles”

I like the points you made in the xbox and wii portions..they are real issues..on the other hand..some of the issues you point out like no rear usb ports? thats more of an a self-need….when you are playing…are you going to be staring at your cable wrapped around you playstation? does it get in the way of you playing? ill put my own opinion..rumble bothers me…it just feels stupid for a little shake in your hand whne something goes BOOM… should have just posted the xbox and wii stuff then put that you couldnt find any ps3 errors since its perfect except for the following opinions

First of all, try a car game with rumble and then without (Colin Mcrae DIRT on X360 makes good use of the rumble and is an essential part to the gameplay, lets see how the PS3 version shall fair when is released… Worse I dareasay).

Secondly, asthetics are important and I like having my useless things hidden away, my cables clean and all. If you own an expensive Home Cinema, the last thing you want is an ugly cable ruining all the hard work you put into making it look classy.

But let me add another appaling PS3 letdown, the PlayStation Store. It has no content, is not fast at all to navigate through and really, still has a long way to go

Euro Gamer forgive bamboozeled he does not speak for the rest orf the ps3 community and is undoubtly lookin to start a flame war but i must disagree the playstation store is very easy to navigate through and i agree with every thing said here rumble is greatly needed

that stuff you said about the ps triple doesnt even make sense. The games… thats not what sucks about the SYSTEM i mean sure xbox has better games but stuff is coming…so is rumble. And if you dont like the bluetooth fine go with a cheapass 360 headset…and why the heck would you want an eyetoy hooke to your ps3 all those eyetoy games suck anyway. who cares if it is expensive go buy a wii and get a cheap machine for a low price the triple is worth it.

The headset is not necessary unless you play a lot of online squad play. I hate that the PS3 comes with a composite TV cable and have to give the 360 props for their combined Component/Composite cabling. Lack of Hard Drive isn’t so bad, if you like to throw your money away and buy the core system and buy your own hard-drive , that’s up to you. What sucks about 360 as with the previous Box is the system locking up on you every 20-30 minutes, and scratching up your games. I agree about the underpowered Wii and it’s overpriced controllers with games needing both the Wii-mote and nunchuk component. Every system has it’s plus and minuses, but if I could get all the games on either PS3 or Wii, I wouldn’t buy another Micro-soft product if I could help it, because I just love their customer support that much.

you can’t seriously be complaining about the online wii connection cutting off? surely thats just you, thats never happened to me and rarely turn my wii off. I do like the point made about the amount of stuff you have to buy with the xbox, i mean, everyone talks about how expensive the ps3 is, but if you were to add up the price of a wireless adapter, recharageable battries, the hard drive then it would work out more than the ps3.
I’d just want to say as well that the thing i hate the most about the ps3, is that they’ve lost all their exclusives from the ps2…i have no reason to buy one, the main games that i would have bought the ps3 for were, pro evo, devil may cry, GTA and MGS4, but they’re all on xbox….and now that blueray dvd players are cheaper than the ps3, whats the point in buying one?

To respond to Euro Gamer’s dumb response, PS3 will have its RUMBLAXIS(rumble included, for those who were dumb enough to buy 360) controller released later this year.

To respond to the aesthetics part, PS3 looks like a COOL console, unlike the 360’s cartoon childish look (why do you think that microsoft copied the style for their elite model) besides, eyetoy will probably end up wireless anyway (at least in the second PS3 version).

And the comment for the PSN dis is that the PS3 network will grow with time.
Also, another reason 360 SUX(not mentioned) is that it supports HDDVD-the losing format.

I am primarily a pc gamer and own an high performance rig. I have chosen the PS3 because i felt the need for a blu-ray disk player and NEXT-GEN(unlike 360) exclusive games. The other reason is that i wanted to choose a console that i will be able to support sony versus micro$oft, the industrial giants bent on making downloadable content Pay-only.

Lots of valid points for them all. Wii doesnt have many online games, but the connection is fine when uve got it working. Im also still not seeing ANY reason to buy a PS3? If anything i would get a 360 and Wii, 360 for Online and decent shooting games and Wii for party games with mates and awesome NIntendo games.

WIi is underpowered Graphics wise, but imo i dont care, aslong as its not fucking piss poor im happpy, i mean when im playing a DS or PSP im not like oh i cant stand this the graphics are shit, its about gameplay. Yes i am dissapointed there not better but so far i havent bought a game where ive been dissapointed.

Xbox actually doesnt have that many terrible disadvantages but what would u expect its been out alot longer than the rest. Wiis online will pick up, and for sonys sake there game selection needs to pick up too.

Technically im a Wii Fan Boy but i have respect for all console, i dont have respect for those who flame other people just because they own a different console, they’re all awesome in there own way, were all human and have preferances, just dont judge people by their console.

TO ALL PS3 USERS “WHERE’S YOUR EXCLUSIVES WHERE ARE YOUR EXCLUSIVES” hey does anyone play football on the PS3 nooo cos there isnt a football game on it. Wasnt sony once the sports console it looks the other way round.
And blu-ray who gives a rats ass HD-DVD will win just like VHS and Betamax.
I Have 8 mates near me and seven of us have Xbox 360’s and one has a PS3 but is getting a 360 and giving away his PS3 (EBAY BARGAIN ALERT!!!!!!!) Funny all This cos i used to own a PS2 yes they were better than the original xbox.

Its like sony and microsoft have swapped lives (but microsoft have kept a few things)

IT fells now that the PS3 Is the nerdy console and the 360 is the average person chat and play console.

And Nintendo we like your Wii apart from the six problems.
hey if i get one of those I am a Wii60 player LOL

I get tired of everyone saying that the ps3 is incredibly powerful. The only reason everyone says this is because they are trained to say it. Everyone expects it to be a beast but I do not see it being more powerful than the 360 by a large degree if any. I’m not biased because I own all three systems but stop saying it is more powerful. It does have a more powerful processor but a weaker overall gpu and less memory (the 256/256 split limits its use). The system can only be as powerful as its weakest link. Hell all of the multiplatform titles look and run worse on the ps3. John Carmack of “id” even said that the ps3 was the platform that limits their development. Otherwise it is a good article.

I don’t usually get involved in crap like this, but I just had to bring up a couple of points.

To say the Wii is underpowered and to call the graphics “sub-par” is an extremely unfair statement. Watch any single one video of Super Mario Galaxy and you’ll know this. Also, you claim that a large number of Wii games “suffer from slowdown issues and the like.” What games are you playing? I’ve not delved into the entire Wii library so far (mostly in an attempt to avoid crappy ports, I will admit) but I’ve played a fair amount of the games available so far and haven’t had one single “slowdown issue” that I can recall.

Secondly, I’d also like to point out how absolutely silly it is to fault Sony for not including a headset in the package. Considering how ludicrously overpriced that thing is to begin with, how could you really expect them to toss something else into the mix and risk upping the price another $30-$50? No one in their right mind would have made that decision.

People People People
i like how basically all the things for the ps3 are being changed as of now and the writer was forced to write about the usb prots being in the front.
*rumble* it’s coming and it’s not kust ruble (look up touchsnse on google)
*current games library* will obisously change really really soon!! Little big planet, UT3, killzone WARHAwk
*ports* all the consoles have ports and will go away
*price* thats probably the hardest part tho 60gb ps3 got a 100 dollar price drop

Without a dot, the PS3 sucks. A buddy of mine bought it and after playing it, decided never to believe the hype on anything related to Sony or playstation. It’s so buggy and there are horrible graphic rendering problems on some games. The Wii is weak in terms of graphics, but it’s still quite fun. They need edgier games rather then the Friendly titles they have, which I’ve yet to come across one that has blood and gore in it. The XBox is not bad, I don’t like how they emphasize it as a multimedia portal, I just want a gaming console. The PC is best however.

Euro Gamer, you come off as an Xbox fanboy yourself. Fact of the matter is, all three of the consoles have their respective high points and low points. Quite frankly I’ll probably be getting both the Wii and the PS3, not because I believe they are “better machines”, but more because most of the games I like are cross-platform though the Wii and the PS3 have a lot of exclusives I desperately want to play that I know will only be coming for either of those two consoles (never was much of a Halo fan). I must admit though… the Xbox is starting to get a better line up IMO. In the end the only thing that really matters is the games that are available. I mean the initial Xbox sucked IMO because of it’s total lack of decent (or any for that matter) RPG games save Fable. It seems that Microsoft is starting to cover that corner for the 360 though I doubt future FFs, KHs and Suikodens will come out for the 360 (with the possible exception of FFXIII).

Computers are way better than any console.It takes a STUPID person to buy a ps3 when he can get a nice computer instead.playing games on a wimpy ass console machine is like using 2 cans and string instead of a iphone.

Nice summary – i honestly most of the points raised are true, and only defended against by fanbois.

Wii — most certainly is fun, but most certainly is underpowered. As for the graphics they are good, but definitely sub-par on larger screens. I have 47′ and 42′ HDTV’s, the wii looks $hitty on the 47′ .. god help 480p on a screen that big or bigger. doesn’t look that great on the 42′ either, but good enough.

X360 — nice selection of games, and the development is getting mature, but the lack of recall says volumes about M$ opinion of it’s customers. And the points system. Thats the sound of your wallet getting raped.

PS3 – Cant say if this one will be the ‘next-gen’ winner, but it’s lifespan will go longer than the x360 and wii so consequently more mature titles will appear as the x360 sunsets … plus i gotta love the 1080p on my HD screens. AND please don’t knock that point, as more ppl get HD tv’s (and big ones at that) resolution will be factor.

I disagree with the wii stuff – the games run fine and so does the online store. Great console for families and/or multiplayer in the home. Exchanging wii #’s is annoying at first but its a one time step.

I agree with the xbox accessories being overpriced, but thats what amazon and ebay are for. Live is amazing and I’m happy they have embraced HD in their content.

I think the PS3 is an engineering disaster. It doesn’t suck, but lets get real here – it cost alot to develop for weather it be time or simply not being able to take advantage of its hardware. $500/$600 isn’t worth the few exclusives that it has.

Xbox 360
1. Red Ring of Death – I’ve got a launch unit and mine has never red ringed. Not once.
2. Lack of rechargeable batteries – In the 2 years I’ve had mine I’ve had to change batteries 3 or 4 times. Faster than a TV remote but not bad. Certainly not enough to merit rechargeables.
3. Microsoft Points – 5000 points = $62.50 = $.0125 per point. 400 point games = $5. 800 point games = $10. It’s not that hard to figure out.
4. Lack of built-in wireless networking – Only a problem if you want to run games in a different room from your networking gear. Wired is faster anyway.
5. Lack of hard drive as standard – Did anyone ever buy the “tard pack” in the first place? Developers need to be brave and go ahead and make a HD only game.
6. The frickinâ€™ huge power brick – It’s huge, but I haven’t seen mine since I set up my system. Out of sight out of mind.

Nintendo Wii
1. Itâ€™s Underpowered – Don’t confuse underpowered with untapped. It’s at least as powerful as the Gamecube and the Resident Evil Remake game looked amazing. If developers take the time to use the system I think we’ll see it’s pretty amazing.
2. Expensive controllers – $60 for a controller/nunchuck combo doesn’t strike me as being that bad. PS3 controllers are $50 and 360 controllers are either $40/$50/$70 depending on if you get wired/wireless/wireless w/ battery pack.
3. Wii Points – Wii points are cheaper though, a penny a point. But the games are more expensive. $5 for an NES game, $8 for SNES/Genny titles, $10 for N64 games.
4. Crappy ports – Absolutely agreed. Not just ports, but crappy games in general.
5. Lack of rechargeable batteries – Again, not a real issue since the Wiimote doesn’t seem to be a battery hog.
6. The online experience – The friend code thing absolutely sucks.

Playstation 3
1. Game library – Absolutely agreed. Developers haven’t figured out that the PS2 pattern of quickly produced crap isn’t going to fly at a $60 price point.
2. Crappy ports – It’s sad when 2 of the best PS3 games (Oblivion, Ninja Gaiden) are ports of Xbox titles.
3. Expensive – Yup, and worse in Europe.
4. No rumble – They are supposedly fixing this though. For those whining about having to buy a new controller, I’d remind you that the original Playstation controller in 1995 didn’t even have analog sticks. They did a dual analog version and then they did a dual analog with rumble.
5. No headset as â€œstandardâ€ – Goes hand in hand with the weak online experience.
6. No Rear USB Ports – I don’t see it as being that big a deal, I’d put the weak online experience as #6.

I have 1 thing about the Wii: The internet experience. I’m not sure about you, but I can connect just fine to it every time, so if your point is that you can’t connect, then check around your configuration. As soon as I got rid of my satellite, my Wii would -always- connect to the internet.

Like Microsoft Points, Wii Points are a proprietary â€œmoneyâ€ system used to purchase downloadable contents. They suffer from all the same issues as Microsoft Points, but at least on the Xbox I can use a keyboard to enter my credit card information. Wii Points suck just that little bit harder than Microsoft Points.”

Actually, you can use your credit as well. So, Wii points suck as much as Microsoft points.

The 360 points are kind of valid and not so much…
The 360 failure is a problem, but it has not been for me or anyone I know personally, its hardly the number one issue that can be considered an annoyance for EVERYONE which seems to be what this list is going for.

The hard drive point does not even make sense really. Who buys the core? Might as well say it does not come with wireless controllers as well.

The power brick is a stupid complaint, its large yeah, but what are you doing with it where that is a constant issue? Mine has a built in fan and MS told me it has its own built in surge protector. I am fine with it being large if it increases safety and reliability.

MS Points do suck though, geez.

The lack of wireless is stupid since it should have been on the Elite at least. Or lower the price of the adapter.

For the Wii, it can be underpowered, but it depends on the game. The Wii’s lack of detail really hurt parts of Zelda for me, but I think it looks fine for Mario Strikers.

Lack of games, god SO DAMN TRUE. I got my Wii in November and aside from recent play due to strikers, it has gone largely untouched in almost six months. The controller scheme loses value quickly.

Nintendo Points are not that bad, but VC games are overpriced and lacking some of the value we were promised (Multiplayer).

Wii Friend Codes, hell Friend Codes in general, can just die already.

Still a fun console, and has potential I guess, we will see.

The PS3, the games and price are killer. I don’t care about Blu-Ray so I don’t consider that a “feature” I want to pay for. My 360 Elite has a larger HD, HDMI, etc, and has great games. The PS3 has a couple good games and a lot of promises. I know one person with one and he was so excited and bragging when he got it, now he only uses it to watch movies.

I would get the PS3 at 499 though if they started pumping out sweet games and had a good arcade system like Xbox Live Arcade. They would just have to do something to show that its worth it to have the PS3 and the 360, because despite the article here, neither system is really more powerful than the other. Each has hardware pros and cons that make them about equal.

Oh I need some friends to have it as well. Part of my reason for getting a 360 is all the people I know that play it. If I cant play with friends I am not buying anything.

Here is a question. How often does Nintendo ever do something you might consider evil? Think about that for a second.

I am a new Wii owner, and so far I have to say I love the system. I have got my parents and grandparents to play games on Wii sports, and I am currently working my way through Twilight Princess, which I recently discovered is a Gamecube port that was highly optimized for the Wii control scheme. What is amazing is that compared to the rest of my Wii games, the graphics on TP are incredible (and for the record, I play on a 92in FP screen). Just imagine what they will look like when you get really well developed games made for the system. Just wait for Super Mario Galaxy. I think its going to blow some people away.

Most of these people are idiots, CHEAPTRIX, yeah and you dont need the HD-DVD to play games so the cost is not comparable, and who ever says the 360 is junk are just plan old idiots. I like the PS3, and the 360 both. As stated they both have their ups and downs. I just have to say that I have had mine since the third week they were out. Guess what? Mines fine!! Never had a problem with it. Its people who have no clue on how to care for electronics that have dead ones.

I hate the fanboy pieces of **** who dont know what they are talking about. Get a life

Most of these people are idiots, CHEAPTRIX, yeah and you dont NEED the HD-DVD, or the HDD to play games so the cost is not comparable, these are just accessories. Who ever says the 360 is junk are just plan old idiots. I like the PS3, and the 360 both. As stated they both have their ups and downs. I just have to say that I have had mine since the third week they were out. Guess what? Mines fine!! Never had a problem with it. Its people who have no clue on how to care for electronics that have dead ones.

I hate the fanboy pieces of **** who dont know what they are talking about. Get a life

actually you don’t need a bluetooth headset for online chat, i’ve tested my usb sound card and works perfectly with the ps3 and you can select in xmb and that means you can use 3.5mm headphones with mic

you people must be uninformed…complaining about the ps3 titles ok 1 its been out less than a year, 2 look at the games that are coming … haze,ut3,warhawk,lair,…just give it a little. just think of it this way is a woman amazingly attractive as a little girl? no she grows to be …let the ps3 grow

And all of that is exactly why I haven’t bought a console since I picked up a PSOne on sale for $79 a few years back.

With regards to the PS3 and X360 I simply can’t get my head around paying that much for a console with such gaping flaws. The Wii has it’s own set of issues and I can’t believe that it’s doing as well as it is with only supporting 480p. One year later and it would have totally bombed.

ummm all of you people seem really passionte about your video games and i would hate to trivialize something that is obviously such a large part of anyones life but you do realize that at the end of the day all your fighting over and getting indignant about is a plastic box that connects to a t.v. screen. I dont know about you guys but i think if you took have the energy your wasting on this silly and childish argument and put it towards something more productive i have a feeling this world would be a better place. in all honesty who cares about which system is better when we live in a world as messed up as this. i think instead of wasting our time on this message board constantly arguing over a nonsensical point maybe we should be out trying to make the place where we live better.

anyways having said that i guess ill leave you with this opinions are like assholes: everyone has one and there all full of shit.

Its funny how lower graphics capability for the Wii is a minus here, when for all developers it means much less budget for artist production, leading to more games, and much more innovation. When every game must be a blockbuster because of the amount of money spent developing it (and its graphics), publishers don’t want to take risks, and so only produce guaranteed successes (see: derivative games we’ve all seen before). But that’s fine; the next Madden/GT on PS3 looks so cool that gameplay doesn’t matter, right!!!!111!!!1!!!

XBOX 360: In order to gain customers, MS launched the white console the year before Sony or Nintendo.. even when they know that it wasn’t pass the quality tests at all… so, at this point there are a lot of consoles out there… what does ti mean?.. that a lot of people buy software for it, along with the bunch of extra accesories… so the bussiness it ’s done… so, at this point of time, they don’t give a damn on extend the guarantee…

It’s a nice console… the graphics for some games are really impressive.. if you are using a HDTV, if not, try the previous XBox…

I think that overall this is a very well written article. I would argue that Wii Points are nowhere near as big a pain as the 360 points system because they are easily converted. Every 100 points is a dollar, or essentially each point is 1 cent so you do actually know exactly how much you are paying per game without having to whip out a calculator.

Other than that the list is solid, MS really did pinch pennies way too far and the red ring of doom is a bigger issue than MS was willing to admit previously, the wii is suffering from overpriced peripherals and tons of brutal ports (for an innovative new system, developers sure aren’t taking a fresh approach) and the PS3’s price point and games library make it a non-contender as of right now.

On points for the Wii and 360, sure they’re annoying to you; however, it’s a convenient way for parents to limit spending on the console. I believe the family controls let you lock out points purchasing (it would be a major oversight not to allow that) and as a result a parent could easily give their kids an online gaming “allowance” and NOT have the constant whining about “it’s only $10″ which would inevitably happen were they more up-front about pricing. It may suck for hard core gamers, but given the fact that eventually they want these consoles to be family gaming machines it makes a great deal of sense.

You’re the idiot. I am not a ps3 fanboy…I don’t even want a f’ing PS3. I have a 360. If you would read the post and use that tiny brain of yours, you would realize that I was comparing both systems with similar features. NOT the dumbed down 360 (which I own) compared to a souped up PS3 (hardware wise only.)

Saying that Wii points are worse than MS Points is idiotic, because Wii points are 1:1 with their real-world value. 1,000 Wii points is 1,000 pennies. I don’t see how that’s hard to understand at all, especially compared to the Xbox 360’s 8:10 ratio (or whatever it is) where 800 MS points is about 1,000 pennies ($10). Anyone who has actually used both of these systems of currency knows that Wii points are FAR easier to deal with. I’ve also read that the Wii is as powerful as TWO original Xbox’s, not one. That “upgraded Gamecube” thing is really growing a bit long in the tooth, don’t you think?

It seems silly also, that you mention how terrible the PSN is in various parts of the article, and yet you fail to list this as one of the problems with the PS3. Surely, the lack of online support is a little more important than the non-inclusion of a headset.

It’s hard to take an article like this seriously when such idiotic errors are in place. I mean… at least try each of these consoles before you attempt to rag on them.

wii – lack of serious first person games (tp was great, re4 helped some, metroid3 and mario are coming), hopefully this complaint will dissolve.

360 – hardware reliability issues. Of course most 360 users wouldn’t have this complaint, but it has one of the highest failure rates of any console I’ve ever heard of (just listen to Window’s Weekly, the host is on his third). They apparently didn’t use any better hardware for the elite, but at least MS has bending over backwards honoring past-warranty machines. Good customer service.

ps3 – games. Again this could go away, but when I wander through the game section at Target the ps3 just makes me sad. All of those machines sitting on the shelf. All of those games I have no interest in. Really being in third place is dangerous as far as install base goes. Smallest install base and higest game production cost equals scaring off third party publishers. Just ask Nintendo’s Cube, it hurts to be in third.

I don’t care that much about graphics (which could be translated to “I own a Wii”), but I do agree with attacking ps3’s lack of rear usb ports. I like having all my wires out site around my tv. My Cube had wavebirds (and no frontal wiring), my Wii takes up so little space. Wii points are a pain to get, but a pleasure to use, and they are a way of getting around onerous credit card fees for smaller transactions (look into the cut that Visa gets of iTunes sales).

Actually quite a few games need 4 Wiimotes and 4 Nunchucks… Raving Rabids, one of the Wii’s best games, needs four nunchucks for many of the minigames. Strikers Charged needs four, Wario Ware needs four for some, I don’t see how you could just have four wiimotes but only two nunchucks and expect four people to play. Just last night we all played strikers charged and had to use four of each.

@Wii Point Defenders
The problem with Wii points is not the conversion from dollars, I don’t think that was his point, its that nothing you buy usually adds up to the points you have. I have bought three VC games, and not once have I had 0 points left over after buying them. Oh I need to buy 10 dollars in points for a 6 dollar game? Ok. So the next time I have 400 points left over, well crap, that isnt enough for a six dollar game, well heres another ten bucks or whatever, ok now I have six hundred points left over, and so on. Its that you generally overpay for something and have points left over that you may never use again. I think I have 4 dollars in points just sitting there now, why was I forced to waste that if it never ends up being used? It is not much different than Live Points.

@mbdua
Don’t even know where to start on how much you don’t understand the gaming industry. You act as if because technology improves it MUST be more costly to develop for, forever and ever. While it is true that it is cheaper to develop for the Wii in many cases, compared to the 360, that does not mean that developers are actually going to make original games or suddenly throw away their 360 development. It also has no impact on game quality either. I mean look at the Wii games that are worth having, and we are just a few months away from it being out for a year. They have, what, four or five good games, and at least two of them are just sequels which you complain about, not actually original. Believe it or not, there have been a lot of Zelda games already, it is not the first Wario Ware, we have had a few Smash Bros, it was not the first Paper Mario game… Damn look at all that originality!

Of course some of these games rock, Zelda is great, and Paper Mario is one of my favorite games in years, but that just proves the point that just because another system has sequels, it does not make them bad or unoriginal. Most of the Wii games are just ports or sequels, there are very few games, not based on recent movies, that are for the Wii and are good and original ideas. In fact, I thank think of one I own that is original. Rayman has been done, Mario has been done to death, Zelda has been done, so many times, another Pokemon game? MARIO PARTY 8?!

Seriously, get off your high horse and realize that all the companies go for cash, thats what they are there for. Each system has its pros and cons.

To the people who talk about Betamax and VHS…lets look into the facts and not the company who developed it. Lets see…Betamax had better video quality and VHS recorded longer…HD-DVD has better video quality and Blu-ray holds more. Personally I think Blu-ray will probably win it this time around. Also BTW who cares which format wins…I got a PS3 and I don’t care which one wins. I will just switch over if HD wins and if you do care then just buy the ones you want OR JUST WAIT.

Crappy ports is not something you blame PS3…You blame the developers for being lazy…I don’t know is true but rumors say DIRT is better on the PS3.

Xbox 360 Arcade is Awesome, but Xbox 360 is too one sided in its genre. Shooters all day on the console. PS3 titles are going to have more variety. (one year release to one year release of the xbox 360 comparison.

Company Faults:
Nintendo Created Playstation because they didn’t want Nintendo CD
Micrsoft thinks they can own everything
Sony Thinks they can own everything because of there name.

Nintendo makes bad decisions also…aka Virtual Boy
Microsoft still thinks they can release buggy products and get away with it…aka Windows OS and aka Ring of Death.
Sony thinks history repeats itself all the time and they have a japanese mentality…Price doesn’t matter…thats why wal-mart fails in Japan…sorry Sony US cares about Prices

Yes I Own a Gaming Windows PC, Mac Book, PS3, Xbox360, Wii. This is how I use them as..

PC for Real-time Strategy, MMO, Hopefully Crysis, Starcraft II
Mac Book for School work
PS3 for my DVD and HD player and Linux box and PS3 games…motorstorm, ninja gaiden, and resistance fall of man.
Xbox360 for the arcade games with my wife and Xbox 360 games like Gears of War, Ghost Recon 2, Rainbow Six, Soon to be Madden 2008
Wii for my family and play Wii sports with my wife.

Each serve its own purpose and this is the first time I have ever owned a same generation of consoles. I love it because they each have their own purpose. None of my systems ever gather dust because they do their job. Please stop the argument on which system is better or which system sucks..They are all great system and like the man in the article stated…they all have their problems none the less.

Your problem with the wii store not conecting might actually be your routers fault. I was using a gen 5 linksys wrt54 gs router and had to reboot the router once a week to get the wii to connect. I switched the firmware on my router to dd-wrt and have not had a problem since.

Wow, after reading this article you’ve made me want to stay out of the current gen war with things the way they are. Thanks for all the input and for getting me to the decision that the past gen is still the best gen.

I for one am glad the 360 didn’t come with wireless built in. I have a wireless switch in my living room, and the 360’s network connection fits perfectly with how I have everything setup. Wireless would be just another thing that I’d have to configure rather than being able to plug it into the same switch that my xbox and pc use.

look, about u guys talking about the ps3 not being expensive and that allllll the add ons for the 360 will be more expensive than the ps3…….OFCOURSE it will be more expensive but, if they were all built in, u think that it were stilll gunna cost that much??? if ps3 didnt have blu ray, built in wi-fi, exct…, dont u think it were to cost more buying them seperatley than already have them?????

I’m a proud PS3 owner. Am I totally satisfied with its current state? I’d be anything short of stupid if I said I was pleased with the current crop of games (or lack thereof). But I do feel that the PS3 has the most to gain at this point. It sure as hell doesn’t have anything to lose. It’s had about as much bad press as a “Bennifer”, “TomKat”, and “Brangelina” combined and the system isn’t even a year old yet.

Beyond the usual twitch games like Heavenly Sword, Warhawk, Killzone 2, and MGS4, that will perform well on the shelves, titles like LittleBigPlanet and SingStar will change its future quite dramatically. iTunes mixed with YouTube! I smell an American Idol tie-in, which translates to exposure, which translates to sales.

So for all the PS3 haters out there, keep hatin’. Us PS3 owners love it. We’ll be laughing all the way through ***FREE*** PS Home with our Blu-Ray player (let’s face it HD-DVD is done; Target selling ONLY Blu-Ray players during the holidays; BJ’s wholesale club going exclusively Blu-Ray; Blockbuster Blu-Ray only in the stores; don’t forget that all things Disney are Blu-Ray only; Apple too)

As for not getting as many games based on the programming learning curve, it’s like another gamer stated, developers just haven’t figured out how to work the system so they shovel crap like Barbie’s Adventures onto it with little effort and short turnaround times.

As for MS not including wireless because they said that networking protocols change all the time; what kind of s*** is that!!!!! This is from the same company that makes Windows, right? Nothing in the protocol world would change unless it worked with Windows. Plain and simple. I could see a statement like this coming from Nintendo or even Sony for that matter (as a cop out to not including it) but not from the largest software company in the known universe. Hell, I bet the aliens are considering upgrading to Vista before they arrive here before their next anal probe on Farmer Joe.

I don’t own any of the 3 consoles, but the ps3 portion of the article seems lackluster. Game Library and Crappy Ports should be one single argument, and the lack of rear usb ports seems to be a trivial matter compared to everything else.

[...] The one thing on the list I do not agree with is the comment about non standard PS3 headset support. I like the idea of having a simple Blue Tooth headset. It is easy to work with and it allows the user some flexibility.Via Pixel Perfect [...]

[...] The one thing on the list I do not agree with is the comment about non standard PS3 headset support. I like the idea of having a simple Blue Tooth headset. It is easy to work with and it allows the user some flexibility.Via Pixel Perfect [...]

I didn’t know that about Srikers.
I can’t think of one part of Warioware that needs four chucks, as you pass the controller around. Most of the game doesn’t even use one chuck.
I own (and beat) Rabbids, most of the games that take a chuck for Rabbids and are fun for 2. I didn’t like many of the four player games in it, most of them had too much load time for how little play there was.

For parties it usually comes down to Wii Tennis, Wii Bowling, Warioware and for the most part no nunchucks are needed. I only have two chucks and will likely do just fine, most of my friends have Wiis, so they can bring their own chuck.

As far as your points discussion:
Ever been to an arcade that uses tokens?
It isn’t ideal, but Visa takes a transaction cost of the greater of the two: 25 cents or 1% of the transaction (or thereabouts).
If you buy 1000 Wii points for $10, then Visa a quarter.
If you could buy the Nintendo game for $6, then Visa gets a quarter.
It just makes sense.

As far as original titles:
You must not have heard of this game, Resident Evil 4, I think it was the first one of its kind. (j/k)
I’m excited about the future of the Wii titles (for originality), the dev kits are really pretty cheap, there’s been talk of indie games for the Wii and some talk of something like the virtual console for original games. It’d be pretty sweet to spend points on games made by independent developers. Development is pretty cheap on 360, too, but pretty astronomical for the ps3. Also, once developers get some good engines that play well on the new systems, they’ll start releasing newer stuff. What is that game coming with that paint blob? That looked pretty cool.

-All of the Wii complaints are valid and 5 of them will not change over time (crappy ports will likely change)

-Only 4 of the PS3 complaints are as serious as the ones in the xbox and wii sections (no included headset and no back usb ports do not equal up to hardware failure and being underpowered). Also, the 4 truly valid complaints will change with time (game library, crappy ports, rumble, and expensive)

I am not a fanboy of any console but I think it can be said objectively that this article proves the PS3 has the least to complain about.

hell no, wii points are so much easier to use than MS points. MS points are 80 points per dollar, Wii points are 100 points per dollar, or 1 point/cent. Its much better to have an easy 1:1 system that the weird MS way

“wimpy ass console machine is like using 2 cans and string instead of a iphone”

playing games on PC instead of PS3 is like using an iphone (the most overhyped and overpriced POS i’ve seen to date) instead of nokia or sonyericsson, enjoy the thousands you spend for getting nothing more in gaming, probably less.

#78 Brandon “All 6 XBOX complaints are valid and none will change over time”
How can you say that they won’t change over time?

1.) RROD – Microsoft is already working on this with better heatsinks and smaller chip sizes. Ok this will change.

Brandon 0, Sensibility 1

2.) You can buy a rechargeable battery station from any battery maker (batteries included) for about $10. Not gonna break your pocketbook and not a good reason not buy a console.

Brandon 0, Sensibility 2

3.)The point of Microsoft points (and Wii points) is that people who do not have a credit card can purchase games. This is smart. Sensibility +1. I do not have a problem dividing 400 by 80 or 160 by 80, I graduated from grade school. You may have went to public school so Brandon +40/80 (that’s .5).

Brandon .5, Sensibility 3

4.) I don’t think that by not including the wireless for the 360 that they are pinching their pennies, but pinching the consumer’s pennies. I would bet that the # of users that are using wired ethernet far exceed the number of wireless users. So Microsoft should have included this feature and charged buyers an extra $50 for something they may not use? After all if you can’t divide 400 by 80 then you have no sense hooking up a wireless network in your home. But you are right, this will not change and that is a good thing for consumers so it’s a split.

Brandon 1, Sensibility 3.5

5.)Standard Hard Drive. You say that this cannot be changed. Drop the Core edition and bam it’s changed. wow that was hard. Sensibility +1

Brandon 1, Sensibility 4.5

6.) Power Supply. This is the most retarded thing I’ve ever heard of. My power supply is behind the Entertainment Center with all of the other wires and plugs that cannot be seen. The only waysd this would be a problem is if you have your tv sitting on the floor with nothing to hold your 360 on or hide wires behind, in which case you should have spent the $400 on fixing up your pad instead of looking like a douchebag. Sensibility +1

Brandon 1, Sensibility 5.5

Welll it’s official Brandon is an idiot with no sensibility, P.s. I own all three systems and knock the dust off my PS3 once a week to keep it looking good.

“I get tired of everyone saying that the ps3 is incredibly powerful. The only reason everyone says this is because they are trained to say it. Everyone expects it to be a beast but I do not see it being more powerful than the 360 by a large degree if any.”

Yeah this list sucks. The Wii is more powerful than the first generation xbox and doesn’t suffer from slowdown. Not to mention I have a shitty wireless connection and my Wii has never lost its connection. (I turned my nintendo usb wi-fi connector into wi-fi for all my stuff instead of just nintendo products and it doesn’t hold out long with my laptop.” ) And I don’t know what the fuck you fanboys are bitching about when it comes to graphics. They were good enough last gen. Especially with Resident Evil 4. At this point I’d rather have a good game with shitty graphics instead of a shitty game with good graphics.

[...] Six Things That Suck About Each of the Game Consoles The XBox 360 has a great library of games, the Wii offers a unique gameplay experience and the PS3 is a powerhouse waiting for its potential to be unleashed. Everyone comes to the defense of their favorite consoles, but here are six things that piss me o (tags: digg GamingIndustryNews Gaming) [...]

Just wanted to add that the 360 has a 2 year start not a one year on the ps3 and wii.
This is M.S third year come this november 22. Look it up. In another 2 and a half microsoft should start revealing info on the there new system.

considering how easily this article could have gone wrong, it makes mostly very solid and legitimate points.

that said, there is no fucking way the 80GB PS3 will drop to $500 as soon as the 60 GB is gone. no, that would be good business, and as such, sony won’t do it.

seriously though, they need to use price drops as leverage, it’s really all they’ve got, and this fall or even this winter is not the best time for them to play that card. so they won’t. no more price drops until ‘08 i’m afraid.

i do not give a shit for anything but reliability…bought a ps2 and its still running strong with no issues to this day, mind you i got the ps2 opening day. bought an xbox and that was the worst thing i have bought ever…busted 3 weeks in…now that im seeing lots of stories on the ring of death, i glad i didnt waste my money on another xbox. oh yea, hd dvd? thats just going down the shit hole and blu-ray is the winner no doubt

you are most likely a PS3 fan, because you decided to not even look for the main issues!
no one hears of the software and hardware issues of the PS3 for ONE REASON!!

NO ONE HAS THE DAMNED THING!

in a couple of years i personally will not be surprised if sony is doing the same thing microsoft is doing (i.e. the extended warranty for overheated which then causes the RROD)

you also forgot to mention another big mile stone about the PS3 there arent a lot of games out for it for one MAJOR REASON. havent you heard that 50-60% of the game develpers have repeadtely stated that the PS3 is exteremly hard to program for.

YEs microsoft is a monopolistic giant with their head in their ASS. the fucked up major when it came to producing a flawless piece of technology. yet it is the most popular with the most games. its just like the PS2 in my personal opionion. a freind of mine had 8 die on him and so far 2 360’s.

wii whats wrong with it is that the game developers are just using it as extra cash so they can afford to develop the bigger games for the PS3 and 360. all that they need is to be taken seriously!

whover said the wii is 2 gamecubes stuck together?. well your wrong!!!! ITS 2 AND a HALF!!!
2.5 =D

To WXPIBSIO3X, about the same number of people own the PS3 at this point as did the XBox 360 at the same point in its life cycle. This is actually very impressive when you consider the price point the PS3 has been sold at.

Certainly the sales curve is front-loaded, and I think the declining monthly sales are what forced Sony to drop their price point on the 60GB model, but the fact remains that the PS3’s sales are comparable to the 360 over the same time frame (when considered globally, of course – in North America, the 360 takes the lead).

The failure rate on the PS3 (and the Wii, for that matter) is significantly lower than that of the 360. Even Microsoft admits the 360 has a design flaw that causes the failures. It’s a sign of a console that was rushed to market without adequate testing, and Microsoft is certainly paying the price for that mistake now (to the tune of >$1B US).

I’m also not sure if you actually read the piece. Quoting from point 1, about the game library on the PS3, “Itâ€™s obvious from the lack of games on the console that itâ€™s a beast to develop for, and developers are having a hard time wrapping their heads around it.” Maybe you should try reading something before commenting on it? Just a suggestion. I tell the truth.

haha i totally agree with you on all those points. ps3 rumble doesn’t really bother me. it isn’t something you need. its more of a bonus then anything. and people should totally stop bashing the ps3 for its PSN. the 360 does have an almost flawless online system but it also has a year headstart. the ps3 will eventually catch up and maybe even surpass the 360.

[...] Five (Nope, Make That Six) Things That Suck About Each of the Next-Gen (current?) Consoles July 29th, 2007 I realize that not everyone owns each of the next…errr…current generation consoles. This puts me in the fortunate position of being able to compare them and offer a unique insight into the pros and cons of each console. The pros are easy to write about, though, as all three consoles have a lot going for them, so I decided to go all negative and focus on five things that suck about each console. These are presented in no particular order, so it’s not a “top five six” list or anything like that. Xbox 360 1. Red Ring of Death It’s no secret that the Xbox 360 has suffered from serious reliability issues since it was released. Realistically, had the reliability issues been a safety issues (like, for example, Sony’s rechargable laptop batteries included in Dell laptops bursting into flames, or the original Xbox power cords shorting out and causing fires), the 360 would’ve had to go through a major recall. Microsoft’s recent extension of the 360 warranty to three years for the red ring of death reeks of two things. First, a fear of class action lawsuits that they can’t win. They knew if they ignored the issue, it would come back and bite them in the courts (and may still). Second, it’s literally the least they could do. Had this really been a case of wanting to make sure the customer experience was fully covered, MS would have extended the warranty to three years, period. There wouldn’t have been the caveat that it was for this issue particularly. This comes from someone who has returned his first 360 for repair (due to the RROD) and who has never had another console fail on him (unless you count my original Atari 2600, where the coax cable coming out of it frayed and required opening it to replace – not exactly a difficult repair). 2. Lack of rechargeable batteries The PS3 has taken a beating publically because of its price point, but when you stop and compare the 360 and the PS3 feature for feature, the price points are actually very similar. Microsoft definitely “cheaped out” on the little things, including the battery packs with the wireless controllers. Instead of including a rechargeable battery pack with the 360 controller, Microsoft opted to sell the battery packs separately, and as a result the controllers are30- 40% more expensive than they appear at first glance (because who wants to use a wireless controller without rechargeable batteries?). 3. Microsoft Points Microsoft Points suck. There, I said it. I’m reminded of video arcades where you have to trade in your money for their tokens, and there are no refunds for unused tokens. Microsoft’s insistence on using “points” instead of real money adds a layer of confusion for consumers (how much does that downloadable content actually cost? Let me break out my calculator and figure out the Microsoft Points conversion rate), and Microsoft adds to the aggravation by only allowing you to buy points in quantities that don’t add up to anywhere near the value of the content available for download. They don’t even give you a significant discount for buying larger quantities of points at once. Even the sleaziest arcades do that. 4. Lack of built-in wireless networking For a high-end console, the lack of integrated wireless networking is a black eye for the 360. Especially on the Elite. Even the Wii has built in wireless networking. Microsoft claims this is because the protocols for wireless networking keep changing. There are two problems with this argument. First, all the new protocols are backward compatible with the old ones. Second, a console with built-in networking is not prevented from using a future “better” standard, if necessary, through a USB connection. Realistically, the exclusion of wireless networking is just another in a series of penny-pinching moves Microsoft made with the 360. 5. Lack of hard drive as standard The original Xbox had a hard drive included as standard (and was the first console to do so), but its successor does not. WTF? Again, Microsoft has claimed this is about consumer choice. Please. The 360 is practically useless without a hard drive, and the proprietary memory cards are hideously overpriced. I highly doubt many 360s are in use out there without a hard drive, and Microsoft is just milking consumers by overcharging them for the hard drive peripherals after the fact. 6. The frickin’ huge power brick The XBox 360 is a nice looking console, in fact I’d argue it’s the nicest of all three consoles in terms of aesthetics, except for one thing…that giant, ugly, 300lb power brick. If anything says “we didn’t have time to refine this design”, it’s that power brick. __________________ [...]

Many very valid points. I disagree at the point where you say some of those problems will not change over time (especially with the Xbox 360 and PS3). While I too was infuriated last year when my Xbox 360 took a dive right before the release of Gears of War, the repair process was relatively painless. When all was said and done, I didn’t pay a nickel, except for shipping fees.

I think your criticism of the power-brick is accurate. Even with the old Xbox weighing in at 8.5 pounds, I could still manage it at LAN parties and the like. The Power Brick adds a bit of awkwardness to a very elegant design. Even the power brick can be subject to change in the future, as are many other flaws you pointed out. Such are the dangers of buying consoles early in their life cycle, especially ones that are far more complex in operation than your old Atari or my old Nintendo. Todays consoles are far more complex, and thus, far more likely to break down (ala Xbox 360), so sometimes it takes a little patience to wait for console manufacturers to work out the kinks before you make a purchase (which is why I’m waiting to buy a PS3).

(Through Stumbleupon)
Just got the Wii, and have a high end XP gaming rig.(which, going by the recommended stats for Lost planet(PC edition), is (quite a bit) more powerful than a 360.) Yeah graphics are nice and all, but as Doom3 taught the PC gaming world, they aren’t a replacement for fun. And THAT is where the Wii kicks butt. It is undeniably fun to play, and mysteriously easy to learn(unlike the 360, PS3 or especially a PC.)

On the Wii’s lack of games: Let’s not forget that up until E3 of 2006 everyone thought that the Revolution/Wii was going to be guaranteed third of the three consoles. Meaning that all the big game companies were going after 360 and PS3 before that, when the engine work and requirements were being done. Now that the Wii is easily the top selling console, I guarantee the big names have started rolling towards it, and it’s only a matter of time.

As someone who bought a core 360 only to find out that the hard drive is, in fact, necessary for backwards play– and without even a memory card to get my gamertag– for four days now, I wholeheartedly agree with that particular point. At least a freaking memory card should be included…

I think the Wii is going to last a lot longer than any of its critics originally thought it would– it’s an excellent party-game system and really bumps up the social factor of gaming.

But when developers finally figure out how to really utilize the PS3’s hardware, Microsoft and Nintendo are going to wet themselves trying to keep up.

I like how everyone is trying to compare the Wii to the 360 and PS3, yet from the beginning, Nintendo themselves said they were moving in different directions from the other two. I only agree with the point the online experience is terrible. It is plagued by frequent disconnects in the online shop channels, and being forced to use friend codes in “almost” all games is awful. Microsoft has the online experience down.

I own all 3 systems. So if I want relaxing, simple, not-too-involved gameplay (although they can do involved gameplay), and party fun, I’ll go with the Wii. If I want “next-gen” graphics I’ll go to my 360 or PS3.

However, I just want to say that if people qualify good games by how good the graphics look, and that’s the way things seem to be going, it’ll be a sad future for gaming. We’ll just see similar games over and over, with no risk for innovation because of the costs for development. Nintendo also has some repetitive games, but at least they are trying new things. I often find my self playing older games because the story just gets me more involved.

And don’t count Nintendo out yet. They might be lacking in graphics and online play in this gen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are working towards a new system for the future that will rival the competition.

Alright lets be frank about which “gaming” system is the best.
If you like family fun games – Wii hands down
If you like next gen games obviously you wil prefer the 360 or ps3.

Lets face the facts ps3 owners it was a waste of 600 dollars and will continue to be until some decent non port games come out…

Microsoft learned from sony from the ps2 which imo still has the best games. I hated the original microsoft I only have one game (Halo) system. but now they have almost ALL the sony only games. So until the ps3 library gets better it will remain the inferior next gen system.

I know the blue ray vs hd dvd arguement keeps coming up, but that has nothing to do with the game play at the moment seeing as there are almost no games that use full 1080p resolution. So maye in the future when either blue ray or hd-dvd dies, it will become obvious which system was the better investment, but until then the 360 remains on top.

because to be honest, who wants a 600 dollar toy that can only play mediocre games even though it “could” play better ones.

@Endless Mike
“Guys letâ€™s put dollar signs in Microsoftâ€™s name because they are an evil corporation only out to make money, unlike Sony and Nintendo who are only out to bring great games to people!”

Ok im gonna break it down for ya. yes i agree that microsoft is evil and in it for the money but isnt sony. lemme demonstrate what i mean.

Nintendo: great company but what do they really develop, consoles & games. did i leave anything out tell me if i did im no expert

Microsoft: Great ideads and we all use the products (unless your a mac or linux douche) but again lets look at what they develop; Windows, Games, consoles, the Zune. i think thats it but again im no expert.

Sony: now here are some greedy sons of bitches. what do they make? Consoles and games………………..and TVs, computers, stereos(car and home), mp3 players, dvd players, phones, just about any peice of home or office hardware that you can think of has been made by Sony. Again not an expert but really, do i need to spell it out. Sony is the major player here. They sell everything that could ever be used for entertainment and then some. so if your gonna call microsoft evil then lets just go ahead and make Sony the devil!!!!!

I am getting tired of people on the internet saying Microsoft is evil because they make money… Grow up, it is their responsibility to make money. If you say making money is bad then you really don’t expect any company to succeed.

Microsoft didn’t steal PS3’s style with the elite… they used the same color, that doesnt dictate a style. For fuck sakes a console can’t hold a monopoly on a fucking color!

I think the thing about microsoft points are that theyre there so microsoft can sell stuff to kids. Sure a kid can get the console from mommy but then theyd have to get the credit card every time they needed something and mommy would get big unexpected bills from little Timmy because he wanted 15 different map packs and got 30 game pics.

I’m sorry but the PS3 is a piece of crap, I’m looking forward more now to Lost Odyssey.

I want new games, new ideas and new RPGs. I will see that come fully alive on Xbox360.

PS3 will just continue to get secondary hand-me down sequels.

As for those who implied the 360 was only for shooters….LOL!!!! That is all I’ll say. It has more RPGs out than any system, lots of action and adventure games, and lots of games coming like Saints Row 2 and Huxley…….

BTW I really love Blue Dragon and its colorful story. But I can’t stand the look of FF13 and some of these other sequels………they just seem bland as ever….Oh well.

wii is the best it lacks power but great system. 360 isnstrong but not as fun as wii but online experience beats all.ps3 is the strongest but overpriced not all people have a hd tv…it doesnt have good games

i love the fanboy flame wars on these digged and stumbled websites.
Really as someone that has played and owned pretty much every system ever made.
All these next gen consoles are great in there own right.
Why bash the 360 for some hardware problems when the PS3 is having similar problems but its not being talked about since its not sold nearly as many units.
The truth is the fanboys are the only ones buying PS3, its crap , the system is just another dreamcast and we know how Sega is Nintendos Bitch these days.
The 360 is crap since it breaks down the most , yet when i got the RRoD it took me less then a week to get the new one in the mail and it came with a free month of gold and a free game. Hell when my ps2 broke , sony told me to fuk off and get a new one.
Nintendo is crap since it has nothing for the serious gamer , but everything for the casual gamer.
Really i can tell you exactly what is going to happen.
The Nintendo and Xbox work together much like they have been and realize they both do the exact opposite of each other and therefore really aren’t fighting against each other but working together.
The PS3 is just a paper weight and will bankrupt sony if things keep up the way they are.